Alternatives to Microsoft Project - Top alternatives to Microsoft project with in-depth details

By Chetan Joshi

Mainly there are two methodologies that are quite popular in the tech industry; a waterfall project management and agile project management. After using both of these project management practices, experts have started realizing that the hybrid of both methodologies is of utmost value.

Most of the tools have very similar features. Some have better communication component, some follow all-in-one approach, some are good at managing projects and some are better at managing tasks. Certainly, tools play an important role in project management. Picking the right tool is as important as having the right team for the assigned job.

Here is a list of alternatives and why you should say goodbye to Microsoft Project and embrace one of these tools:

Asana has a very rich set of features to help your organization manage projects and tasks. It is easy to get started, and even as your team grows or processes change, Asana is flexible enough to adapt with you. Here is a link to a comprehensive list of features that Asana offers.

Features:

Manage tasks, timeline, milestones

Task dependencies

Private teams & projects

Dependency Management

Sharing and Teamwork

Third-Party App Integrations

Price:

$0 for the basic version

$9.99/month per user ($6.25/month per user for teams of up to 15 people).

Teamwork

Teamwork Projects is super easy to use. It is similar to Basecamp except it has a few more intuitive features, including the ability to give tasks priorities, create milestones and invoices, and track time.

Features:

You can also view what’s on your plate by checking out the calendar or see a list in an activity log format. It also shows workloads and a snapshot of tasks and milestones that are past the due date.

Price:

$0/month with storage limitation of up to 100MB, 5 users and 2 projects

$11.25/month per user, 100 GB space, up to 50 users, 300 projects

JIRA

Jira is one of the top software development tools available in the market. It is used by a lot of tech teams and offers tech project management, planning, tracking features, dashboards, portfolio management, Scrum and agile techniques. It has over 1200 add-ons which help in integrating third-party tools.

Price

$10/month for up to 10 users

$7/month per user

Trello

Trello is easy to use and super intuitive. It has everything to suffice all your needs and requirements if you are a small team.

Features:

A quick overview on front and back of cards.

An easy organization with tags, labels, and categories.

Drag and drop functionality.

In-line editing.

Checklists, with a progress meter.

An easy way of uploading files and attachments.

Data filtering.

Click here to take a tour of features of Trello.

Price

$0 for the basic version

$9.99/month per user

Airtable

Airtable is a modern database for the user to organize everything under the sun. It has a fast and flexible way to create a table. It can organize the data whether in the form of sales figures or inventory management. The spreadsheet format along with the efficiency of the database system makes it quite a pick!

Features:

Fast & Flexible

User-friendly organization & collaboration solution

Rich Text fields

Customizable forms & display

Integrates with multiple apps such as Slack, GitHub & Dropbox

Price:

The Airtable Pro plan costs $24/user/month on the monthly billing plan and $20/user/month on the annual billing plan.

PivotalTracker

A story-based project planning tool, Pivotal Tracker is one of the most proactive and agile software methods. It uses ‘Stories’ to help one track their progress. This is one of the key advantages as a number of different story types are available which allows the user to customize their stories.

Pivotal Tracker is updated regularly with a gradual pace instead of one big update. This feature aims to provide faster and more responsive software.

Features:

A wide range of task types

Configure notifications to get the updates and messages

Add User mentions

Manage your stories easily through checklist option

Powerful search syntax supports nested Boolean expressions

Drag-and-drop mock-ups, presentations, and other files from your computer, or attach them from Google Drive.

A powerful and easy-to-use API

Provides GitHub integration

Integrates with more than 140 third-party apps to enhance tracker functionality

Price:

Pivotal Tracker has Free Basic Plans. Paid Plans start at $7/month and all paid plans have a 60-day free trial with no credit card required. Pivotal Tracker is free for public projects, individuals, non-profits and academic institutions

Monday.com

The monday.com platform is a visual project management tool. The platform assists in transforming the way teams work together. A simple tool yet it has the capacity to be intuitive when it comes to managing tasks and deadlines. The catch lies in its ability to build a transparent culture within teams.

Features:

Visual progress display

Tracks user progress

Due date tracking

Clear Overview of all the projects

PipeDrive integration

Execution board

Motivational tool

Email updates

Relevant updates

Price:

Monday.com offers several packages where price depends on the number of users. On a monthly basis, and for up to 5 users, the Basic plan is priced at $29 per month.

Mavenlink

Mavenlink is an all-in-one application which provides project management, time tracking, resource planning at one place. The application is assisted by advanced analytics and powerful business intelligence (BI) engine which makes it a proficient MS Project alternative.

Features:

A step ahead when it comes to role based-estimating and BI

Forecasts future planning

Manages multiple tasks

Easy display of the performance and status of projects across one’s portfolio.

Price:

The basic plan starts at $19/month.

Communication is another important component of project management. Team chat is an efficient way to connect with your coworkers and colleagues. It not only serves as a medium whereby one can communicate better but it also enables in making decisions swiftly, without waiting for everyone to check their email inbox. With tools such as Slack, Flock, Teamwork Yammer, we at Ziggle Tech, can manage our conversations and get work done right from our chats.

Slack

Slack offers one of the most simple and brightly designed team chat platforms. With its customizable color scheme, large icons, and customizable emoji, Slack’s functionality is basic yet efficient. The user can be part of a conversation and join any public channel—or chat group—or could make your own channel. One can reply in a new message, or start a thread that links everything together in one conversation. Along with this, it includes private channels and direct messages, for participants to talk privately to groups or individuals respectively.

One can also use integrations to connect with the tools and services you use every day.

Price:

$6.67. For teams and businesses, Slack saves all your messages for you, but you can only see and search the most recent 10,000 on the Free plan.

Flock

Flock is also a team chat app. Along with the basic features, it helps its user with a number of built-in productivity tools. Flock has public and private group chats, along with direct messages where the users can privately converse with each other. It also has built-in Appear.in integration to swiftly switch to a quick video call.

Price:

The price starts from $6.00/month with the availability of free trial. It does not require a Credit Card to access the trial. For midsize teams and companies, the Pro Plan is for $6/user/month billed monthly, or $4.50/user/month billed annually. For large enterprises and organizations, it has an enterprise plan.

Yammer

Yammer assists in collaborating better with a full-featured internal social network for your business team. Similar to a Facebook account, it only includes your colleagues' business-related posts. It displays recent and popular posts along with comments right when you log into your account. From staying on the top of your game, it allows you to view what’s happening along with a chance to view the most active conversations.

It is highly efficient and simple. One can create the yammer account simply by entering your company email, and Yammer will email you a signup link to join your company's Yammer account. There, you can add your profile info, follow colleagues, and join suggested groups Yammer thinks you may be interested in. It'll even suggest new groups which could help in enhancing your business enterprise.

Price:

Yammer paid services have been consolidated into a single offering, Yammer Enterprise Network, and led to a reduction of the price of the offering from $15 to just $3 per user per month.

Conclusion

If you’re considering to switch from one of the Microsoft Project alternatives, this list will help you to analyze and pick the best option that suits your needs and requirements. Efficient project management software can not only ensure smooth functioning but also cater to your growth. We at Ziggle Tech use JIRA, Asana, and PivotalTracker for managing our projects and tasks. It is a smart move to build the right team but picking the right tool will keep you away from the hassles of complex network chains and ensure transparency. These alternatives are definitely going to make your life easier and convenient. After all, who doesn’t want to enjoy a smooth ride to success!